


Learning Love

by Unuora



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post-Game, pretty much a sappy love story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-25
Updated: 2012-11-25
Packaged: 2017-11-19 11:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/572809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unuora/pseuds/Unuora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even when the world has ended, you still have a lot to learn. But maybe, maybe that isn't a bad thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!! This is a RoseMary fic for a good friend of mine, whose birthday is today.  
> I didn't really spend all too much time focusing on editing it, so if there's any errors, my apologies!  
> I hope you enjoy;;

There is something special about Kanaya Maryam. 

She can be kind and gentle, more so than anyone you’ve ever seen before. She can comfort and encourage. She can bring light back in places where there was thought none ever existed, figuratively and literally. 

She can be stern and strict, like a parent trying to teach their kids the rules of life, no matter how unjust and cruel they may be. She can push people in the right direction with words alone, in a way that you can only admire.

She can be sarcastic and witty, to the point where you feel there’s nothing to do but laugh and laugh and laugh. She has this slyness that leaves others confused and burned, like a paper cut; quick and scarcely noticed but just as painful.

She can be deadly and spiteful. Somewhere inside of her she hides a powerful collected rage that is nothing less than surprising. She’s the last person anyone would want to underestimate.

All together, Kanaya Maryam is more than just a person, or a troll, she is someone strong willed and talented. She is someone you will look up to for ages to come. 

And there once was a day that this Kanaya Maryam came to you and asked you to be her lover, and in that very same day you said yes. She looked as if she’d expected you to refuse, but you know you never could do anything of the sort. 

After that day, you find that every time you thing you know everything about her, she turns around and surprises you.

You learn that all trolls have nightmares, nightmares that haunt their mind and leave them jittery and restless with their aftereffect. You learn that when she wakes from such nightmares, she is too bashful to wake you as well. On several occasions you have found her sitting on the balcony, shoulders hunched and insecure.

At first, even if you approached her during these instances, she wouldn’t say a word. She would just glance up at you, worried and wary. You quickly decided that such a beautiful face doesn’t deserve such lines of grief.

You found, that if you hug her tight and wish her worries away, that she’ll hug you back. That even though her shoulders shake and she’ll hide her face in your neck, she never cries; that when she recovers she silently picks you up and carries you back to bed so you both can sleep the night away. To this day you still marvel over her extraordinary strength. When you ask, all she says is that it’s a troll thing.

Occasionally, you’ll notice her fall into this distracted trance that can go on for quite a long time, where she just sits and stares at nothing in particular, and no matter how many times you call her she doesn’t respond until you put your hand on her shoulder. When you ask her what the matter is, she shakes her head and things move on.

(Though, there was one time, when you asked her what was wrong she told you that she missed Vriska. You nodded understandingly, but it hurt your heart in a jealous way that you only wish you could deny. Fortunately, when she noticed she kissed you so hard you forgot what you were jealous of.)

You discover that despite her meddling and her self confidence that she’s the most nervous and anxious person you’ve probably ever met. 

And, eventually, you find that she has two kinds of nervous.

Sometimes, she is nervous and terse in a responsible way; the way she gets the job done efficiently and quickly, to everyone’s benefit, even if it means she needs to sacrifice her time or her desires. Through the Game, Karkat might have been the hero and the leader, but he gained that title during war and struggle. He became the one to pull them through the darkness. But Kanaya gains the title during times of peace and growth, and she’s the one to pave the way into prosperity. You find her less as a leader and more of a teacher. 

Other times, you find that she’s tense in a more fretful way. You slowly discover that she worries about her friends far too much, and that the responsibility wears on her. When something goes astray, she steps forward even if she is sure she cannot handle it alone. 

It takes you a while, but you soon notice the signs that she’s overstressing herself. It’s when her graceful sway of motion slows, the way she talks briefly, as if she’s on a time limit. It’s when she forgets things more often, or when she paces around mindlessly, doing tasks that don’t need to be done just to occupy herself. 

But there was one day, in which you grabbed her by the hand before she could hurry away in an awkward grace, and asked- no, demanded- what precisely was the matter. She merely met your eyes before it was like the gates flew open, words were spilled in a panicky rush, and suddenly all her worries were at your feet. 

You soothed them away with gentle kisses and your own kind of relentless fretting. In the end, she fell asleep in your comforting arms.

Every time you bring that particular situation up again, she denies its existence completely, but you don’t miss the bright jade flush that creeps up across her ears and high on her cheeks. You can’t help but smile.

Subtly, you keep her from fretting too much, and you don’t think she’s noticed yet.

Kanaya isn’t the only one who can be sneaky. You merely need to learn.

Slowly, you learn how to deal with Kanaya Maryam to make you both happy, and she learns how to deal with you. 

You don’t think you’ll ever be done with learning about Kanaya; she never ceases to surprise you.

\---

Your name is Rose Lalonde, and today is April 13th, and you are twenty-three years old. Today is the tenth anniversary of the day that you ended the world. It’s also the tenth anniversary of the day you met all the trolls, including Kanaya.

In the past years, the thirteenth of April has been a day of mourning, remembrance, and sorrow. But when you meet eyes with her, cups of tea hiding soft smiles, you both wordlessly decide that today is the day that ends.

You stand. “I humbly request your presence for a walk,” you say, arm stretched towards her in a mock elegance. She laughs lightly, eyes squinting slightly in amusement.

She takes your hand, “I would not have it any other way.” 

You walk with footsteps in synch, the gentle release of spring creeping up on the city giving everything a lively atmosphere. You feel timeless, as you walk, hand in hand, with the woman you love.

The two of you chat aimlessly, merely mild chitchat about the weather, something you saw on the news, the fact that the coffee maker broke for the fourth time this week. 

You show her a place you found when you first inhabited this new world; its somewhere on the edge of the city, somewhere up high on a hill and in that place you can watch as the sun paints bright strips of color across the beautiful land you now call home. 

With your feet dangling over the edge of the world, you lie back to watch the clouds float pass you in a fluid rush of wind. She points out hopbeasts and lusii in the soft white above you, but in more than one occasion you spot what looks much too close to a smuppet for your liking. You curse Dave in a flurry of heated words for infecting your mind, and she laughs.

Suddenly, she asks you if you have paint. In wary confusion, you give her a glance. She doesn’t give you a chance to question her before she’s off and explaining.

“Oh, it’s just that I was wondering if we might try something new, seeing as it’s a special day,” she says quickly. 

You tell her you don’t, so you buy some.

In the end, she tells you she wants to paint something in memory of the Game. In memory of the good parts of the Game, she explains.

There’s always been this empty spot on the back wall of your house, the one that is outside near the patio. You start there. 

It’s different, bringing life and inspiration from paper and cloth to paint and concrete, but the both of you try. With fluid strokes of a brush, you plan, you think, and to a point, you succeed. 

Despite what you name as success, you think there’s still more paint on the two of you than on the wall itself.

The wall is split in two sections at the top, one of the Alternian universe, and one of Earths. Your painting morphs, slowly, but eventually into one universe merged as one. At the bottom stands you, and her, standing together in a beautiful cityscape.

You warily call what you made a masterpiece.

Neither of you were ever really good at art.

When you go to bed that night, you curl into bed together in a peaceful, contented haze. You hug her close, breathing in her scent, relishing in your relaxation. 

“If the Game had never occurred, would you be happier?” You hear yourself ask quietly. You’re not sure why you’re asking, just on a whim. 

She presses gentle lips against your forehead. Her skin is cool, it always has been, Aradia and Karkat were the only ones who had blood anywhere warm as yours. It sends a chill down your spine. 

“I’d never be anymore happy than I am right now, right here,” she says. 

You don’t question it, because you feel the same way.

“Likewise,” you whisper. 

You kiss her gently, soft lips grazing her skin, until she falls asleep next to you. 

After all this, you’re the happiest you’ve ever been, and you learn, that she is as well.

But, for once, that doesn’t surprise you.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading everyone!


End file.
